Postgame Quotes

On tonight’s game: “I really like how we responded tonight. I thought we came out and played really hard for forty minutes. We weren’t going to win it in the first 4 minutes and obviously George Washington is a really tough team, but I like the fact that we improved in every area tonight. There was a lot of improvement by the players and we got a lot better tonight.”

On the difference defensively from Friday: “To be able to hold a team like George Washington to only 22 points was really good. We were really aggressive and were able to change things up defensively to kind of keep them on their heels. Kept them out of the middle of the floor. Some really good things to build upon.”

On rebounding and point guard play: “Sharing the basketball was key. It was something that we had worked on and you could see the difference in the last couple of days. We need to go out and be able to rebound like that and make an impact on the boards. Those two things were really exciting.”

On their different defensive schemes: We wanted to build upon our defense and I feel like its time to really start challenging this team and making other teams feel uncomfortable. As a team were a really good pressing team, so being able to find those different wrinkles is key.

On Lexie Brown: “She’s been consistent and when you talk about some of the plays she’s being able to make right now. She’s able to help Alicia and some of the passing ability for our post players. She’s got a great feel for the game and that’s something were always looking for with her play and Shatori’s play. That was a flawless game for Shatori.”

On stopping Megan Nipe: “She was a big piece for her defense. She had proven statistically and from watching her games that she is a very talented player. Every player on our team knew the sout on her in terms of needing to know where she was on the floor and just making her have to take difficult shots.”

On playing with some smaller lineups tonight: “Every game is going to be different. I thought that, with GW being smaller, we could exploit some things with our guard play and play smaller. In the first half we weren’t getting a lot of rebounding from our post positions, so I thought, ‘let’s go with our quickness and our guard play’. It is dictated by how we play and how the other team plays, but every game is going to be different. We have a lot of players to throw at teams, so it is just about being ready when your number is called.”

On Brionna Jones’ performance: “Brionna Jones just continues to get better and better, and as she continues to get in shape you can see what a difference she makes for our team. She has great hands, she is powerful, and I thought she was terrific. She took advantage of being out there on the floor and she gives us a totally different player on the floor.”

On Brionna Jones’ ability to seal and demand the ball: “I’d love to say we taught her that, but we saw that when we recruited her. The hands, her ability to seal, and she has obviously put the work in with her conditioning and getting herself in tremendous shape.”

On Maryland’s rebounding edge: “We knew they were a smaller team than us. Not only that, but rebounding is something that we do. We are known for our rebounding. We knew we did not perform that strongly in the UCONN game, so we gad to come out better tonight.”

On her second half performance compared to the first half: “I was called out at halftime about my performance in the first half, and I know that is not acceptable for me being a senior and a leader of this team. I just knew that for the second half I had to get it together.”

George Washington Head Coach Jonathan Tsipis

On tonight’s game: “I’ve been involved in a lot of big games in my coaching career and I think you see with a team after a big game is it’s usually not a middle of the road type performance. I think you saw tonight a Maryland team that was mad because they knew Friday night wasn’t their best showing. I think we’re learning with our team, we’re coming off of what was probably the best win in George Washington history in the last five years and I thought Maryland was the aggressor. With the depth that they have now they’re able to come at you in waves and not necessarily shoot the ball great, which I think they have people who can do that, but they were much more active on the glass and sharing the basketball tonight. The young woman next to me had a pretty special game Friday night and I think we relied on her too much tonight. I think we need other people who have to be the aggressors. We talked about at half time that when you’re on the road sometimes you have got to get a shot to go in, you have got to get a pull up; you can’t just stand on the 3-point line. I have confidence in our kids, we’ve made 7 3-pointers in the past 2 games, but that’s been at home. You saw tonight a Maryland team that has all the parts to make a deep NCAA tournament run, and we’re still learning to take a big win and take the next step forward.”

On the strategy on stopping Alyssa Thomas: “Guard her with three people. We tried to recruit her. The biggest complement I can give the kid is she has grown as a leader and she’s a tremendous basketball player. As a junior in high school she was so quiet and you can really see her leadership is much more than the high motor she plays with; she’s got other people playing with that type of motor now. Two years ago in the NCAA tournament, I think she’s always had that motor and she has developed her game every year. The ability of taking it off the rim and taking it off the rim and starting the break, I think nobody hesitates getting to their spots knowing that somebody can do that. She has never settled, she’s getting better and better. With that leadership she’s demanding her team get better and that’s a sign of someone who wants to take her team further than they have before.”

Graduate Guard Megan Nipe

On tonight’s game versus the Cal game: “The energy was lacking today. I think we got really excited for Cal; it was a home court, we had a white out going on. I just don’t think we got up for this game the same way.”

“On what she told her teammates after tonight’s game: It’s definitely a learning experience. Having your third game against the 8th ranked team in the nation is definitely a challenge. We still have things to learn and improve on. We’re going to bounce back; it’s not the end of the season by any means. We’re just going to put it behind us and move on and focus on the next game.”